Food, drinks, cosmetics, etc. are known to contain contaminants, toxins, allergens and other substances that may be harmful to some, or to all, consumers. Consumers who have a negative reaction to particular types of substances often have an extremely difficult time when dealing with products, such as restaurant food, a new type of lotion, new medicines, etc., because of the likelihood that these products might contain some substance that is harmful to them. For example, millions of children have a variety of food-related allergies to foods such as milk, eggs, soy, wheat, or other grains, or to particular proteins or other allergens, and it can be extremely difficult for them and their families to find suitable foods, especially while eating outside of the home.
A device that could readily provide rapid diagnostics for harmful substances would be extremely useful and make the lives of consumers easier, safer, and less stressful.
Various methods exist for detection of most toxins and harmful substances that might be present in foods or other media. Examples of such methods entail testing in a sealable container (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,616,893), with a self-contained swab (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 7,098,040), and a container with multiple ports (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,180,335). However, most of the tests that are known in the art are, at the same time, time-consuming and often unrealistic for consumer use because they are bulky and require multiple steps. Such tests are suitable for a laboratory or food manufacturing setting, but not for household use.
Testing methods for substances of interest in food, such as those in the above paragraph, have been around for decades in the form of lateral flow devices (LFD). An example of a LFD is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,013, which is incorporated herein by reference. LFDs can accurately detect substances of interest dissolved in a liquid and are available for a variety of substances. Application of a LFD to detect a substance of interest requires the substance to be dissolved in a liquid. Extracting the substance from food takes time and effort. The food or other test material must be ground up in some form, placed in an appropriate solvent for the substance, and enough time must pass so that the substance is extracted by the solvent. Then, the solvent must be placed in contact with the LFD so the LFD can check the liquid for the substance of interest.
An LFD cannot be placed in the presence of the solvent before the extraction has occurred because, due to the operation of the LFD, it will be rendered useless.
The aforesaid steps and requirements make testing items such as food or cosmetics difficult unless the individual has space, time and knowledge. Providing a platform to accomplish all steps at once in an easy-to-use, portable and fast device would be of great help to millions of individuals.
Devices to aid in the maceration (otherwise referred to herein as “blending”) of solid samples, such as food, have been described in the past, however each prior art device has limitations. Examples of prior art maceration devices for consumer food testing may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,527,765, 7,776,266, and 8,211,715, all to Royds. Royds describes a device that can liquefy food using a reusable blending apparatus, which is not optimal for multiple repeated use in that it requires thorough cleaning between successive uses. Moreover, the Royds device requires multiple user steps to successively mix a sample in a solvent and then to detect toxins. The device taught by Royds does not allow for the liquidized food to be moved from the mixing area to a testing area, therefore the user must administer the test to the food himself or remove the liquefied food and move it to the testing area. In either case, the user's options are compromised, and the test is necessarily less discreet and more cumbersome than might be desired.
The concept of integrating maceration and testing facilities has long been known, and appears, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,174, to Deibel. The blending device taught by Deibel is contained within a vessel that allows for continuous mixing inside the vessel with a power supply outside the vessel. In the Deibel device, a rotating mixing blade is driven by a horizontal shaft that couples the blades to the motor. While such devices may be suitable for larger scale mixing, a far simpler one-time-use mixing device would be desirable for the consumer needs outlined above.